Car coupler



H. L. SPENCE June 26, 1934.

CAR COUPLER Filed July 10, 1930 I95 Qvwwtoz.

w g lzzt uierflspence tion and associated Patented June 26, 1934 CAR COUPLER Hubert L. Spence, East Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to National Malleable pany, Cleveland, Ohio,

and Steel Castings Coma corporation of Ohio Application July 10, 1930, Serial No. 466,954

'2 Claims.

This invention relates to car couplers. In the standard couplers at present employed, the center of gravity of the complete coupler is forward of its point of support on the car. The result is that when the coupler is disengage or when it is not under draft or buffing loads its head tips or droops down, so that its buffing face is not vertical. This condition has resulted in excessive wear and breakage of the upper part of front face of the coupler. My invention provides for maintaining the front face of the coupler head in a vertical position in uncoupled as well as in coupled position; whereby undue wear and breakage of the upper front face of the coupler are avoided. The

. invention also comprises other features which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view of an embodiment of my invention, the coupler shank being shown in side elevaparts in vertical longitudinal section.

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section on line II- II of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a view, similar to Fig. 1, showing a modification of the invention.

Referring to the drawing, the usual draft sills 2, 2 are shown with the customary cover plate 3. The usual carry iron for supporting the coupler is shown at 4 and is provided with the customary f wear plate 5 for engaging the coupler shank. For

the sake of clearness the usual yoke which forms a part of the draft attachment has been omitted, as it forms no part of the present invention. The coupler comprises a shank 6 and head 7 of conventional form, the head being shown fragmentarily. Said shank 6 is provided with a slot 8 through which passes a draft key 9. The latter also extends through slots 10 in the respective draft sills. In the prior standard couplers, the center line of the draft key slot in the shank is three inches from the bottom of the shank, and said slot extends vertically 4 th inch in excess of the thickness of the draft key for clearance purposes. Also, in said prior constructions, the extent vertically of each of the slots in the draft sills exceeds by /3th inch the thickness of said key. Due to the weight of the coupler head the center of gravity of the coupler is forward of the carry iron, and as a result, in the prior structures, the coupler head droops or tips forwardly when uncoupled from an adjoining coupler. As the coupler head droops the shank 6 rises, the bottom of the slot therein engaging the draft key and carrying the latter upwardly until the upper surface of said key 5 jstrikes the top of the slots in the draft sills. The

front face of the coupler head is then out of vertical position. The standard coupler shank is six inches in height and its center line coincides with the center line of the key slot in said shank.

In my improved arrangement I so position the slot 8 in the standard coupler shank 6 that the center line of said slot is 3 inches above the bottom of the shank. The slot 8 is the same size as the key slot in the prior standard coupler. When the shank in my arrangement is horizontal the 5 center line 13 of the slot 8 stands 3 inches above the horizontal plane coincident with the top of the wear plate 5; and at this time the bottom of the slot 8 engages the bottom of the draft key 9, while the top of said key is in contact with the 7p" tops of the slots 10 in the draft sills. This position of the parts is shown in Fig. 1. It will thus be apparent that, whether the coupler be coupled or uncoupled, the coupler head cannot droop below horizontal position, and the coupler head and shank will remain horizontal even though the coupler be uncoupled, the engagement of the key 9 between the bottom of slot 8 and the tops of slots 10 preventing the shank from rising, or the coupler head from drooping, out of horizontal 9 position. In Fig. 1, the dot-dash line 13 designates the center line of the slot 8 While line 14 indicates the center line of the coupler shank.

It will, of course, be understood that the key 9 cooperates in the customary manner with the yoke 35 of any suitable or conventional draft attachment.

Raising of the slot 8 so that its center line is 3%; inches above the bottom of the standard shank 6 means that the height of the shank above said center line is 2 inches as compared with 9 3%; inches below said center line. The height of said shank may, if desired, be increased to 6%; inches by raising the top wall of the shank inch, whereby the aforesaid center line of the slot 8 will be coincident with the center line of 5 the shank. A coupler shank having the same height above and below the center line of the draft key slot may thus be provided, while at the same time the advantages of maintaining the coupler horizontal when uncoupled are attained.

In lieu of changing the position of the slot 8 as aforesaid, the slots 10 in the draft sills may be lowered A; inch so that even though the center line of the slot 8 be but three inches above the bottom of the shank the draft key will be engaged by the bottom of said slot 8 and the tops of slots 10 when the coupler shank is horizontal and will thus prevent rising of said shank or dropping of the coupler head out of horizontal position. Such an arrangement is shown in Fig. 3,

wherein the slot 8 is in the same position as the key slot in the shank of the aforesaid prior coupler, but the slots 10' of the draft sills are lowered inch. The center lines of the slots 8' and 10' are shown at 13 and 14 respectively.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation, and I have no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but recognize that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

What I claim is:

1. In a coupling apparatus for a railway car, a coupler comprising a head and shank, a member having an invariable vertical relation to the car and engaging said shank for supporting said coupler, the portion of the coupler outwardly of said member overbalancing the portion inwardly therefrom, a draft key, a slot in said shank for receiving said draft key, draft sills, slots in said sills for receiving said key, the vertical dimension of said slots being greater than the vertical dimension of the draft key, the bottom of the slot in said shank and the tops of the slots in said sills being so positioned with respect to the horizontal plane of the supporting surface of said member as to cause said shank to be maintained horizontal when the coupler is disengaged from an adjoining coupler.

2. In a coupling apparatus for a railway car, a coupler comprising a head and shank, a member having an invariable vertical relation to the car and engaging said coupler for supporting the same, the portion of the coupler outwardly of said member overbalancing the portion inwardly therefrom, a draft key, draft sills, said shank and sills having slots for receiving said key and providing vertical clearance with respect thereto, the vertical distance between the upper face of one of said slots and the lower surface of the other of said slots when the front face of said head is vertical being equal to the thickness of said key.

HUBERT L. SPENCE. 

